Anyone who has ever worked a desk job knows the bad habits that are sure to ensue. The average day involves sitting for 8 hours, shoulders rolled forward typing, and snacks always close at hand. If you are not driven to physically move your body outside of office hours, your health will surely suffer.
There is a high rate of depression and isolation that comes with working within the IT/Cyber fields. This can be accredited due to the fact that much of the interaction within the field is with a screen, rather than face-to-face with individuals. More so, most of the issues involve employees dealing with problems and complaints from customers. This can build up and often lead to feelings of depression, isolation, and hopelessness.
If you have experienced these feelings, you need to know that you are not alone. Far from it. In fact, there was a terrific Blackhat 2018 session with Christian Dameff, titled “Mental Health Hacks.” Dameff specifically called out Infosec. The overall video is less than 50 minutes and well worth it, check it out.
Keeping this phenomenon out of company atmosphere is something that I am passionate about. I am not a therapist, but I do know a lot on this topic and I am actively working with people to help eliminate or reduce everything that I can.
In 2019, we organized a 5k/8k race in Charlotte, NC, called the Hacker Hustle. The event was to raise awareness of cyber security in the community and, at least we tried, to bring together the cyber community into an active event. We had many local leaders, cyber executives, law enforcement, IT professionals, and a fair amount of people just wanting to run. Our first race generated a lot of success, and I hope to build on that and reach even more people as soon as possible, I’m optimistically hoping for Spring 2021.
I believe that nutrition and fitness are key to mental health. Eating right and completing a hard workout, ultimately allows for me to feel better. It gives me energy to tackle my day. No matter what I have in front of me, I know I can handle it. Furthermore, for 60-90 minutes of my day I am not distracted by anything else. I am solely focused on finishing my workout. Your brain needs this break. You need to be out of the house, raising your heart rate, sweating, and breathing heavily. Soon, you will build up strength and that will give you the tools you need to perform.
Effective workouts also help to establish an effective balance of the chemicals within our brains. When the chemicals in our brains are balanced, we are mentally balanced. We can work through the challenges we face and we can overcome them. Likewise, when you work out in a group, with a trainer, or with other people you surround yourself with positivity each day. That positivity will spread and fuel your mood.
I cannot promise each day is perfect. Problems come up and there are periods that are tough. But working out 5-6 days a week will change your life and drastically improve your mood and outlook. If you are suffering from depression and isolation, please talk to someone as soon as possible. But also get moving. Exercise and communication will do you a world of good. And I do promise, things will turn around. There are people out there that will believe in you. They will see what you offer and they will want to encourage you.
We are not meant to live our lives in front of a screen. We are not meant to live our lives dealing with negativity 40-100 hours a week. We are not meant to live our lives hunched over. Our bodies are built for movement. Try it. Give it 30 days; you will see and feel a difference.